James Braid first sees a demonstration of animal magnetism, which leads to his study of the subject he eventually calls hypnotism

1851

The Denny Party lands at Alki Point, before moving to the other side of Elliott Bay to what would become Seattle

1864

The new Constitution of Greece is adopted

1887

Bloody Sunday clashes in central London

1901

The 1901 Caister Lifeboat Disaster

1914

Zaian War: Berber tribesmen inflict the heaviest defeat of French forces in Morocco at the Battle of El Herri

1916

Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes is expelled from the Labor Party over his support for conscription

1918

Allied troops occupy Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire

1927

The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicle tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City

1940

Walt Disney's animated musical film Fantasia is first released, on the first night of a roadshow at New York's Broadway Theatre

1941

World War II: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is torpedoed by U-81, sinking the following day

1942

World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal: U.S. and Japanese ships engage in an intense, close-quarters surface naval engagement during the Guadalcanal Campaign

1947

The Soviet Union completes development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles

1950

General Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, President of Venezuela, is assassinated in Caracas

1954

Great Britain defeats France to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup in Paris in front of around 30,000 spectators

1956

The Supreme Court of the United States declares Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott

1965

The SS Yarmouth Castle burns and sinks 60 miles off Nassau with the loss of 90 lives

1966

In response to Fatah raids against Israelis near the West Bank border, Israel launches an attack on the village of As-Samu

1969

Vietnam War: Anti-war protesters in Washington, D.C. stage a symbolic March Against Death

1970

Bhola cyclone: A 150-mph tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people in one night. This is regarded as the 20th century's worst natural disaster

1974

Ronald DeFeo, Jr. murders his entire family in Amityville, Long Island in the house that would become known as The Amityville Horror

1982

Ray Mancini defeats Duk Koo Kim in a boxing match held in Las Vegas. Kim's subsequent death (on November 17) leads to significant changes in the sport

1982

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans

1985

The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupts and melts a glacier, causing a lahar (volcanic mudslide) that buries Armero, Colombia, killing approximately 23,000 people

1985

Xavier Suárez is sworn in as Miami's first Cuban-born mayor

1986

The Compact of Free Association becomes law, granting the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands independence from the United States

1988

Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian law student in Portland, Oregon is beaten to death by members of the Neo-Nazi group East Side White Pride

1989

Hans-Adam II, the present Prince of Liechtenstein, begins his reign on the death of his father

1990

In Aramoana, New Zealand, David Gray shoots dead 13 people in a massacre before being tracked down and killed by police the next day

1992

The High Court of Australia rules in Dietrich v The Queen that although there is no absolute right to have publicly funded counsel, in most circumstances a judge should grant any request for an adjournment or stay when an accused is unrepresented

1994

In a referendum, voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union

1995

A truck-bomb explodes outside of a US-operated Saudi Arabian National Guard training center in Riyadh, killing five Americans and two Indians. A group called the Islamic Movement for Change claims responsibility

2000

Philippine House Speaker Manny Villar passes the articles of impeachment against Philippine President Joseph Estrada

2001

War on Terror: In the first such act since World War II, US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against foreigners suspected of connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the United States

2002

Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq agrees to the terms of the UN Security Council Resolution 1441

2007

Russia officially withdraws from the Soviet-era Batumi military base, Georgia

2012

A total solar eclipse occurred in parts of Australia and the South Pacific